


Felix, Qui Potest Rerum Cognoscere Causas

by AriRashkae



Series: Gregō Fēlīs [1]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Cats, Gen, Not really though, Shapeshifting, Sorry Locus, canon typical language, possible panic triggers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-07-25 22:38:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7549966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AriRashkae/pseuds/AriRashkae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>'Fortunate is he, who is able to know the causes of things.'</i>
</p><p> </p><p>Or:</p><p>Aliens can do just about anything.</p><p>Locus really, <i>really</i> wishes they couldn't.</p><p>(It was supposed to be a milk run. At least he's not allergic to cats.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I

Locus' radio crackled to life. _"Why are we doing this?"_ Felix asked, annoyed. _"Shouldn't this be a job for the eggheads?"_

Locus keyed his mic. "There was already a science team assigned here." He continued his search of the room, analyzing the various markings on the walls. He and Felix had learned enough of the various Covenant languages to understand phrases like 'BFG' and 'goes BOOM real good', but none of these looked like anything they had come across before.

_" 'Was'?"_ Felix sounded a bit more interested.

"They missed several check-ins, and haven't been heard from since. After we finish our sweep, we're supposed to check out the research station and see what can be recovered."

_"Shouldn't we be checking_ their _base first, instead of poking around in here?"_

Privately, Locus thought Felix was right. What he said was, "Our orders were to secure the excavation site first. A site suggesting a previously unknown alien race is an invaluable find. One can always hire more scientists." Or mercenaries.

Felix laughed. _"That's cold."_

"That's business. You would know this if you had actually bothered to read the mission briefing."

_"That's what I have you for. Anyway, this room is clear of hostiles, nasties, and other petty annoyances. Moving on to the next."_

"Don't get too far ahead. We don't know what eliminated the previous team." Not that Locus thought there was anything that posed an actual threat to either of them. But he felt obligated to try to rein in Felix from time to time.

_"Yeah, yeah. Don't be such a mother hen. They probably ate some weird sparkly native berry, sprouted wings, and flew away."_

Locus didn't even bother dignifying that with a response. He marked his room as 'Cleared' on his HUD and moved on to the next. He noticed Felix was marking his as 'Boring'. Typical.

_"Oh, fucking_ gross _."_

"What?"

Felix sounded thoroughly disgusted. _"Something fucking_ died _in here and I_ stepped _in it."_

Locus refused to laugh. Absolutely refused. Felix had no problem disemboweling someone or watching them choke on their own blood. But leave the corpse to putrefy for a few days and the merc would lose his lunch. "Unfortunate."

_"Fuck. Off. Ugh, it's under my armor plates,"_ he whined. _"This is going to take forever to clean off."_ Especially as Felix would likely be gagging the entire time.

Locus would not laugh at him. He _wouldn't_.

Really.

Maybe a little.

"Perhaps it was one of the missing team."

_"Doubt it. Ugh. Looked more like a dog or something. Think any of them smuggled a pet along?"_

"Given the restrictions surrounding this endeavor? Unlikely." The next room held something that might have been chairs, depending on how one’s legs bent.

_"Then it was probably something local. Hey, wanna see if you can identify it?"_

Locus couldn't resist. "You're closer."

_"Go fuck yourself."_

Locus refused to laugh at his partner. But that didn't stop the smirk from spreading across his face.

They cleared the next few rooms quickly. There was nothing of any immediate interest beyond the dead animal Felix had encountered.

_"Hey, I think I found what the scientists were pissing themselves over."_

"What?"

_"Fuck if I know. But it's big, whatever it is."_

That was a useful description. "A weapon?" Locus prompted.

_"I wish. Looks more like a computer terminal. Workstation? Lab? Like something that belongs on Star Trek. Real science-fiction stuff."_

"You live in a spaceship."

_"What's your point?"_

There was one room left between Locus & Felix.

Locus didn't remember crossing it.

He paused at the doorway, rifle up and automatically filtering the data his HUD was throwing at him. He had never heard Felix scream like that. Curse, shout, whine? But nothing like what had come over the com when Felix attempted to circle the room and check for exits. He cursed himself for not keeping Felix's vitals up before; he wasn't getting anything now.

"Felix, report." Static. "Felix, _report_."

The channel remained empty.

Locus eased around the corner, searching for any threats, anything that could have attacked his partner.

The room was dominated by a massive, glowing pillar in the center. Locus couldn't see anything that could be considered a threat on this side of it. Whatever had happened to Felix, he must be on the other side.

Locus barely got a third of the way around the room before his stomach dropped. He could see Felix's hand lying on the floor, just clear of the pillar's curve. There was something very wrong with it, but he couldn't quite pinpoint it.

Locus eased his way around the pillar. "Felix?"

His partner's armor was laying in a jumble on the floor. It was almost as if he had vanished from inside it, and it had collapsed without the support.

He had to be wrong. There was no way Felix could have just ... disappeared like that. Cautiously, he inched towards the pile of armor, every sense hyper alert for the slightest change in the room.

Felix's helmet twitched.

Locus froze. 

It shifted again. He slowly reached out and tipped it over.

An orange tabby cat tumbled out.

Locus stepped back, rifle coming up automatically as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing.

The cat, for its part, glared up at him. When he didn't move, it twisted around, trying to stand up. On two feet.

It promptly fell over. It tried again. And fell again. It let out an indignant yowl when it looked down at itself.

"... _Felix?_ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this was originally supposed to be a fun, silly, little one-shot 
> 
> It, uh, isn't


	2. II

Locus set the crate with Felix's armor inside the cargo hatch and sealed it. He wasn't looking forward to the smell when it was finally opened, but he had more important things to concern him.

Namely, the cat sitting on the loading ramp arm, watching him.

It was impossible, of course. There was no way to transfer a human mind to an animal body. Changing a person into a completely different shape should be even more impossible.

Yet, the cat had Felix's active IFF implant.

"You're enjoying this far too much."

Felix shrugged. _What do you expect?_

Locus shook his head. He still wasn't certain this wasn't some sort of hallucination or trick, but at the moment, acting as if it were real was the only useful choice he had.

"This _would_ explain why the research team disappeared," he said, striding up the ramp into the Pelican.

Felix jumped down and followed him as the ramp closed behind them. He had gotten the hang of walking on four legs fairly quickly, but that hadn’t stopped him from trying to hitch a ride on Locus' shoulders. The flat look he had gotten when he missed had put him off trying a second time.

For now. Nothing pissed Felix off _quite_ like screwing up and looking like an idiot in the process. If Locus didn’t fix this soon —

His brain stalled at that thought. He couldn't fathom _what_ he would do if he couldn't change Felix back. It _couldn’t_ be permanent. He couldn’t—

A very loud and angry yowl interrupted his thoughts. Startled, he whipped around to see Felix sitting on one of the jump seats. _Stop being an idiot._

Locus realized he had frozen halfway through reaching for his helmet. He swallowed hard and took a deep breath, then two, then three. He forced the panic down.

Feeling slightly calmer, he pulled his helmet and racked it.

"I _will_ fix this," he promised. He entirely wasn't sure which of them he was saying it to, but hearing it out loud made him feel a little steadier, a little more sure.

They could fix this. _He_ could fix this. He was _not_ going to leave this planet without his partner.

  


He couldn't fix this.

Locus stared at the data crawling across the screen. He had combed through every single scrap of data that their employer had given them, and _nothing_ even remotely hinted at any kind of ... shape-shifting.

He buried his head in his hands and took a few deep breaths. Just because it was all they currently _had_ didn’t mean that was all there _was_. They were supposed to check out the outpost anyway.

Locus just had a little more incentive to do so now.

Locus reached for the controls, intending to pull up a map of the area. They had the last known location of the outpost, but it was technically mobile, if the need arose.

Locus wasn’t going to trust that it hadn’t.

Felix intercepted him, claws out. Locus froze. It was highly unlikely Felix could damage him through the armor plate and Kevlar skinsuit; Locus was more worried _he_ might accidentally injure _Felix_.

"Felix. Let go." Felix slowly pulled back. When Locus reached for the controls again, Felix took another swipe at his hand. _"Enough."_

Felix laid down on the controls, completely unconcerned with his partner's displeasure. _No._ He looked his partner directly in the eye ... and _yawned_ , stretching his jaws as wide as they would go.

Locus stifled a yawn of his own. "You're not funny."

Felix crossed one paw over the other rested his chin on them. _I'm a barrel of laughs._

Locus covered another yawn. Perhaps Felix was right. He could resume his search in the morning.

"Very well. You win. For now." Locus stood and gathered up the ration packages. Felix had been even less impressed with them than usual, but they didn't have many options. Locus was _definitely_ not trusting anything native any time soon.

After disposing of the trash, Locus pulled out both of their bedrolls. A small part of him felt silly setting up a roll for a _cat_ , but the rest of him reasoned that this wasn't much different than the times when Felix had been injured and couldn't manage by himself. Except, perhaps, there was less complaining this time.

After double checking the Pelican was secure, Locus pulled the rest of his armor and racked it with his helmet, setting a maintenance cycle. 

Locus lay on his back and stared at the ceiling, one arm behind his head. His thoughts kept chasing themselves in circles, keeping him from sleeping. He sighed and looked over at the other mat.

Felix was curled up on his pillow. _He_ was already fast asleep, if the slow rhythm of his breathing was any indication. Obviously he wasn't concerned whether he would soon be human again.

Locus envied that confidence. He rolled over and readjusted his pillow. He'd gotten so used to Felix talking even as he fell asleep, thinking of more and more random things as he faded, that the silence was strange.

Locus took a few deep breaths, trying to will himself to sleep, even as he acknowledged the absurdity of trying to force it. Every time he thought he had put the worry aside, some dire new possibility would occur to him. Would this end up being fatal? Or, perhaps worse, would Felix's mind change next? He thought they both could adapt to the physical change, if they couldn't reverse it, but if Felix forgot what it was to be human, if he forgot _himself_ …

A firm shove to his shoulder interrupted his thoughts. Warmth pressed against his back and Locus let out his breath slowly. Felix's quiet purring - and wasn’t _that_ a strange thought to have - managed to relax him in a way nothing he had tried did. Maybe it _would_ affect his mind, but for now, he was still _Felix_ and they were still partners.

They'd survived the War. They would survive this.

Locus drifted off to sleep with that thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the cat!filter is starting to kick in: 'I need my human to take care of me, so he needs to take care of himself, but my human is an _idiot_ , so I have to take care of him.'


	3. III

The next morning saw Locus up before dawn. He had the Pelican lifting off by the time the sun peered over the horizon. And by the time full daylight spread across the alien ruins, Locus was striding down the ramp, a quarter mile from the research station.

He got three feet from the ramp when he felt a weight land on his shoulder. He turned his head slightly. "Were you practicing all night for that?"

_Maybe_. Felix settled in between Locus' neck and his shoulderplates. _Maybe not._

"Comfortable?" Locus asked drily. Felix whacked him. Locus just shook his head and continued to the station.

Preliminary sweeps with the Pelican's instruments had shown very little activity. What they _had_ picked up seemed to be the power stations and environmental systems continuing to maintain a base that didn't answer any attempt at contact.

Felix, interestingly enough, did not split off immediately to perform his own inspection. Instead, he sat up, curling his tail around Locus' throat and growling softly. Perhaps this would finally teach him caution where nothing else had. _I don't like this._

"I don't like it either," Locus said, deciding to ignore the constriction. "If they had been attacked, there should be _some_ evidence, if only malfunctioning systems." He unclipped his rifle. "We'll secure the area and then check the records. Hopefully they'll have something on ... this." He took two steps before pausing. "Try to stay out of trouble. I'd hate to step on you by accident."

_What kind of idiot do you take me for?_

"You _are_ a bit shorter than usual."

Apparently the top of Locus' head was a good launch point. Locus couldn't help chuckling slightly at the indignation in Felix's posture as he stalked out of sight.

  


The station proved to be as empty as the ruins. The solar collectors had been keeping the place online, and the environmental systems kept it livable, but it had clearly been uninhabited for some time.

Felix had disappeared after the second empty room. Locus would have been concerned, except his IFF was still active and moving. If he held still for more than ten seconds, _then_ Locus would worry.

Locus cleared the station quickly, before returning to the central hub. Felix joined him, jumping up on one of the chairs. _Nothing._

"The environmental controls are functioning properly, and the structure appears to be intact." Locus sat at the nearest terminal pulling up the logs.

_Which means whatever happened wasn't an attack._

Encryption. Wonderful. The Pelican supposedly had all the official keys to unlock everything. In Locus' experience, however, scientists could either be horribly lax about security, or incredibly paranoid. The worst ones were a mix of both, encrypting things apparently at random, and developing their own 'systems' - Locus used that word _very_ loosely - of filing. He was not looking forward to slogging through terabytes of data for anything useful.

Felix climbed up on the terminal. _That looks fun._

Locus leaned back and offered him the keyboard. "Would you like to try?"

Felix declined, choosing instead to resume his perch on Locus' shoulders. _No thanks. Enjoy yourself._ He stretched out, resembling nothing so much as a very large and obnoxious scarf. 

Locus decided throwing him across the room wouldn't be worth the effort.

  


Locus growled. Two hours later and all he'd managed to do was eliminate the supply inventory and payroll records. Everything else was a tangle of cross-referencing and scattered files.

_Apparently_ , the research 'team' was a team in name only. No one seemed to trust anyone, and they all had their own methods of logging. The decryption keys they had been given were _useless_. At least one person kept _paper records_ , only filing an index based on keywords that made no sense to Locus. Another switched between at least three different languages when writing, one of which Locus was fairly certain was _Elvish_ , rather than use encryption.

He pulled off his helmet just so he could rub his temples. If these people weren't already dead, Locus just might shoot them himself for this.

He looked over at Felix, sprawled on one of the other chairs. "Shut up."

_I didn't say anything_.

Locus sat back, stretching, feeling his spine pop with every shift. He had decryption algorithms running on a copy of all the records that looked promising, while he slogged through the notebooks he found, comparing them to the index in the hopes it would start to make sense.

He was calm.

He was very calm.

The kind of calm just before a storm breaks, or a tsunami crashes on shore. The kind of calm just before he pulled the trigger on an impossible shot.

He would not destroy the station or the ruins. Not until he had gotten all the information he needed out of them and made his partner human again.

But after? He was going to blow the place sky high and enjoy _every_ moment of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You should have seen me flailing when I found a Latin phrase that basically summed up this story and had the word 'Felix' in it. I was giddy for the rest of the day.
> 
> I ended up going with orange mackerel tabby instead of calico, because my cat!Felix muse is an orange tabby, but I was gifted the [most wonderful image](http://wantonlywindswept.tumblr.com/post/140716131407/arirashkae-aliens-can-do-anything-right-in) before I even really started on this fic.


	4. IV

Locus eyed the armor crate with distaste and no small amount of foreboding. Sealing it before cleaning Felix's armor had been a foolish move, but it was done. Now he had to deal with the consequences. He hoped the helmet filters were enough to make it bearable. He was not looking forward to learning what wonderful new smell Felix had discovered _this_ time.

He hauled the crate into the station maintenance bay. Until the decryption was done, he had little else to do, except give himself ulcers worrying. Best to use the time a bit more productively. Fortunately, they had decontamination setups, both for people and equipment, but it still required him to open the crate and lay each piece in the chamber. He hoped it would all fit in one shot. He didn't want to have to keep going back and forth to work the controls.

Felix, of course, had bailed as soon as it even _looked_ like Locus was going to open the crate. Now he was perched on a barrel as far away as he could get.

"You know, you could still push the buttons," Locus muttered. He was definitely going to need to step into the other pod and decontaminate his own armor after this. 

Felix yawned. _I could._

Finally, Locus had managed to arrange all the pieces in the capsule. It wasn't designed _specifically_ for military armor, but it could manage everything but the undersuit. He set the automatic cycle and stepped into the other pod, taking Felix's skinsuit with him.

Fifteen minutes later, both cycles were done, and Felix's armor was packed away in a new and, more importantly, _clean_ crate.

He found Felix outside, toying with some mouse-like creature. Locus set the crate back into the cargo slot. "Have you nothing better to do?" he asked, arms folded.

Felix let the mouse-thing run off, sitting up nonchalantly and curling his tail around his feet. _Not particularly. Done primping?_

  


Locus lifted his head, trying to determine what had woken him.

When did it get so dark?

Felix headbutted him in the shoulder again. _Hey, asshole. Wake up so you can go the fuck to sleep._ When Locus just stared at him, he huffed. _I mean in the ship, not this fucking chair, dumbass._

Locus sat up slowly. He hadn't intended to spend so much time attempting to make sense of the records. He yawned, neck cracking as he stretched. "Since when have you cared so much about my sleep habits?" he asked, dragging himself into the back of the Pelican.

Felix trotted in front of him to lay claim to both pillows. _Since you're my only chance at getting opposable thumbs back._ At Locus’ flat look, he moved over to his own pillow.

  


Finally, after thirty-six painful hours of decrypting, translating, and sorting, Locus had the base records organized into something useful. Hopefully. He set the search algorithms to them, looking for anything related to 'shapeshifting', 'animals', and anything else that might be relevant; the ones detailing the local fauna would probably require him to read through them personally, but they could wait. He pulled up the ones directly related to the ruins to search himself.

Four hours later, and he'd finally managed to tease out the ones that attempted to translate the words they'd found. Felix had left, returned, napped, and generally made a nuisance of himself.

Locus found the normalcy of it helped him focus.

A flash of orange out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. "Do not even think about bringing any kills in here," he said, not bothering to look up. Felix turned around and left, returning a few minutes later to curl up in a chair. 

_Any luck so far?_

Locus dismissed another file; this one had only held musings on the possible religious significance of the maybe-chairs. He shook his head. "This is getting us nowhere."

_Do you have any better ideas?_

Better? Yes. Productive? Not really. He'd have to wait until Felix was human again before blowing the place up. Locus sighed and pulled up the next file. 

Ten minutes into it his blood ran cold.

> _"... lacking an alien 'Rosetta Stone', any possible translation is of course limited by the small sample size of the vocabulary, but it appears this may have been a site of experimentation as well as worship. Possible translations point to this being an area of 'transformation' or 'metamorphosis', presumably of a metaphorical or spiritual nature. Other writings conflict on whether or not there may be a permanence to such states, if they indeed existed. Without more data points, this remains purely speculative ..."_

Locus hadn't realized he'd frozen until Felix jumped in his lap for a better view.

_Well. This sucks._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the linguist is a pretentious asshole.
> 
> Short chapter, but I liked how it felt to cut it there. The next few will be longer.
> 
> Oh, and [meet Chaos, my inspiration for cat!Felix](http://arirashkae.tumblr.com/post/148393151496/meet-chaos)


	5. V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doom, destruction, and despair. This chapter _refused_ to be funny, even when I tried adding to it.

_Are you done shooting things in the dark?_

Locus let out a slow breath. He'd hoped the target practice would settle his nerves by forcing him to relax and focus, but it hadn't worked. The whole time, he couldn't help getting distracted by trying to figure out what they would need to do to adjust things to Felix's ... state, and then chastising himself for assuming they couldn't fix Felix in the first place.

"We need more information," he said, securing his rifle. "The files said the translations were incomplete at best."

 _Good fucking luck with that._ Felix jumped up to Locus' shoulder and settled in around the armor.

"Are you going to stop doing that?" Locus tried to make his tone disapproving, but the best he could managed was a mild exasperation. The smile probably ruined it.

_Probably not._

"Lazy." The smile faded as his thoughts wandered, again, to this being their future. "Let's head back to the ship."

As soon as the Pelican was secure, Locus pulled his helmet and sat down heavily. A good ear and a life in the military had taught him how to speak quite a few languages, but an unfamiliar _written_ one? An alien one with no clue where to begin, that an actual, _trained_ , linguist hadn't been able to crack? He buried his head in his hands, fighting off despair.

Felix nudged his elbow. _Stop sulking and get food, because I can't. Figure this shit out in the morning._

  


Field rations were even more of a struggle to choke down then the nights before. Locus couldn't tell if it was the stress of the situation or not, but he had little appetite any more. If it wasn't for the fact that Felix couldn't manage the packages himself, Locus doubted he would even bother opening them.

Felix, as always, was blithely unconcerned that this could end in disaster. He continued on, confident that Locus would be able to solve this little conundrum and get him back to normal. Locus wasn't sure how much of that was Felix being _Felix_ , and how much was evidence that maybe, just maybe, he was becoming more cat than person.

The thought scared him down to his bones. Felix was his _partner_ ; they'd had each other's backs so many times in the past that he couldn't conceive of going through life alone.

He noticed his hands trembling ever so slightly, and forced himself to breathe deeply. No matter _what_ happened, no matter _how_ this played out, he was not abandoning Felix.

Even if Locus lost him.

Gritting his teeth, he looked around, his eyes falling on his rifle. Stripping it down sounded like an _excellent_ idea right now.

As Locus sat down and started methodically disassembling his rifle, Felix wandered over. He poked at a few of the parts, before looking up at Locus. _Seriously?_

Locus just gave him a flat look. Felix shrugged, then stretched. _Whatever floats. Try not to lose anything._ He jumped up to one of the cross bars on the seat cages and stretched out along it. Locus would have been concerned about his mental state, but he'd seen Felix sprawl like that on various objects too many times in the past.

He wondered what that said about his partner, that so little had actually changed.

Slowly, Locus checked over every piece of his rifle. Field stripping his weapons was always far more relaxing than it should be, given that carrying them usually meant he was going to _need_ them.

He took far, far longer than necessary to inspect, clean, and reassemble the entire piece, but by the end, he was also a great deal calmer than he had been. He attached the laser sight, intending to make sure it was calibrated properly. He flicked it on, aiming at the wall across from him.

Felix's head snapped up. He stared at the red dot on the wall next to him. Locus watched him tense up, before he slowly turned to glare at him.

_Don't. Do. That._

Locus switched the laser off. Felix jumped down to the floor, stalking over to the mats. Locus switched it back on, aiming just in front of Felix and a little to the left.

Felix slapped at the dot before he could stop himself. He turned back and actually _growled_ at Locus.

Locus shut it off again. "Would you prefer I get a string?" The indignant huff Felix gave him was answer enough; the way Felix very pointedly curled up with his back to Locus was merely icing.

Locus sobered as he put the rifle away. As amusing as it was to tease Felix, there was the very real concern that this was the beginning of a mental slide. Was this level of ... 'instinct' ... there from the start, and Locus hadn't noticed, buried as it was under Felix's usual personality, or was the mental change just slower than the physical one?

Locus sighed. He _had_ been feeling slightly better. Now all he'd managed to do was tie his insides in knots again. He laid down on his own mat, curling in on himself slightly. He'd never realized how much he'd miss Felix complaining. Yet here he was, wishing that he could hear Felix grousing over everything from how much he hated field rations to how little they were getting paid compared to what he thought they deserved.

Locus pulled the blanket up, suddenly feeling very, very alone.

  


_Locus hunted through the broken landscape, searching the scattered remains of soldiers around him, human and alien alike. His breath was too loud in his helmet and he knew he was starting to panic but he couldn't_ stop. _He had to find Felix. He_ needed _to find Felix. He needed Felix at his back or they weren't going to get_ out of this.

 _He tossed aside slabs of rock, praying with equal fervor that he would and would not find Felix under one of them. His heart leapt into his throat so often when he saw a familiar line of armor, only to plummet when it wasn't Felix's that it was starting to make him dizzy. The sky overhead was too dark and blinding bright and the silence was a deafening roar and_ where the hell was Felix?

 _He spotted a flash of orange that was_ wrong _but he couldn't say why but it was_ right _too. He scrambled over corpses and rubble, not caring what he crushed in his haste. Nothing mattered except finding Felix and_ getting him out of there.

_He found an Elite and a Spartan locked together, their bodies frozen at the moment their blades had claimed each other's lives. He shoved them out of the way, digging for that rightwrongright flash of orange that —_

_His fingers closed over an armor plate and he_ pulled, _nearly dislocating his arm when nothing budged. He set his heels and hauled back. Had to get Felix out —_

_Everything broke loose at once and he fell backwards, losing his grip. He pulled himself to his knees and threw himself forward. He managed to grab hold of the armor again and pulled it towards him. This time it moved easily, clattering over the ground like a bag of bones._

_Locus stared in horror as Felix's armor settled to the ground, empty. He patted the armor frantically. "Nononononononono—!" It was Felix's armor. He had to be here. He_ had to.

_An inhuman screechhowlmoan behind him sent the hairs on his neck straight up. Too late, he realized he was unarmed and unarmored. When did he lose his armor? He whipped around._

_The Elite and the Spartan towered over him, their death wounds gaping and hungry voids and if he stared too long he started to fall—_

_Locus stumbled backwards in a desperate attempt to avoid their grasp. He needed to_ run _but he couldn't leave Felix's armor he was going to_ need _it he couldn't leave it behind—_

_He wasn't sure which one reached him first as his hands closed over his partner's armor, but fire burned across his cheek and he rolled—_

— off the mattress, tangling himself in the blankets and knocking his head on the floor in the process. 

Locus lay there, dazed, as the remnants of the nightmare shredded and wrapped him in a fog. The floor under him was cool and smooth and he pressed his hands against it, trying to anchor himself. He was on the Pelican; he _knew_ this. But he also _knew_ he was on that battlefield, frantically trying to find his partner. He tried to stare at one spot on the ceiling and force himself to take slow, deliberate breaths but he _just couldn't do it._

Felix picked his way across the tangle to sit by his head. _It's about time._

Locus managed to suck in a full breath and he held it, afraid that if he didn't he might not catch another.

Felix jumped up on his chest and stared at him. _You're an idiot._ He pawed at Locus' cheek, reigniting the fire from the dream.

Locus gasped for air, chest heaving, before he was able to draw another breath. He freed one hand and carefully touched his cheek. His fingers came away wet with blood.

"...Felix?"

Felix held up one paw and flexed his claws, examining them. _I repeat: you're an idiot._

Locus laid there for some time, until his pulse settled from 'thunderous' to merely 'racing', and he could breathe without feeling the need to scream out air he couldn't hold. He closed his eyes, forcing himself to focus on the feel of his body.

Felix strolled off him to sit near the front of the Pelican. Locus managed to extricate himself from the tangle of blankets, separating them to the two mattresses. As he went to lay down again, Felix meowed from next to the medical kit.

Locus stared at him, uncomprehending, until his brain kicked into gear. "Right. There's no telling what you might have stepped in earlier." He dredged up a small smirk as Felix bristled.

_You know what? Forget it. Fuck you._

Locus retrieved the kit and started cleaning the lines Felix had carved into his cheek. "Was that really necessary?"

Felix sprawled out on his mattress. _You wouldn't wake up._

Locus huffed a breath but didn't argue. His hands were steady only through stubbornness and years of training that let him bullseye a target at over three kilometers. He drew on that now, trying to force a physical calm if he couldn't manage a mental one.

Felix was _here_. He wasn't human, but he was _alive_ , and Locus was not going to abandon him, no matter what.

He finally deemed the scratches to be clean enough and smeared antibiotic into them. He hated the greasy feel pulling at his cheek, but there really was no clue what alien germs Felix may have picked up wandering around. Locus only hoped that, between the updated vaccines they got before deploying and the first aid now, there was nothing to worry about. Still ...

"In the morning," he said, snapping the kit back into place, "we need to check the records to see if there's anything we need to watch for."

Felix yawned. _You'll be fine._

Locus just shook his head and stretched out on the mattress again. It was thin in some spots and lumpy in others and overall had seen better nights, but it was better than sleeping on the floor, or in full armor out in the field. He rested one hand on his chest, unconsciously reaching for where his tags used to lie.

Sleep eluded him. He knew he needed actual rest if he was going to make any sense to the research records — 'geek speak', Felix called it — but he couldn't get the knot in his chest to disappear.

Locus forced himself to breathe in rhythm, and while it calmed his heart a bit more, it didn't do much for his thoughts. They chased themselves in circles of _what if—?_ and _it won't—_ followed by _but maybe—_

Locus hadn't realized he had clenched his hand in the fabric until he felt Felix trying to squirm under his arm. _Once again I say: idiot._ He yawned and made a production out of sprawling over Locus' chest. _Go the fuck to sleep._

Locus smiled faintly and let his head drop back. His fingers twitched slightly and Felix purred at the friction behind his ears. Slowly, Locus drew his hand over Felix's head, letting the motion and the feel of fur soothe his jangling nerves.

Physical contact accomplished what nothing else had and, eventually, Locus slept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Locus is for sits, as he is made of warm.
> 
> And Felix discovers the bliss of head skritches. Which is good, because Locus is going to have an aneurysm if he doesn't calm down.
> 
> I nearly kicked myself last week for not putting in a laser pointer scene; then I remembered that the chapter hadn't posted yet, so there was nothing stopping me from adding one! It, uh, didn't go as planned.
> 
> ~~The _current_ [longest confirmed sniper kill](http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-confirmed-sniper-kill) is 2.47 km. I don't think it's unreasonable that after a few centuries of warfare and tech advancement that someone could bump that over 3 km. ~~
> 
> Edit 6/26/17: The _current_ listed record is now [over 3.5 km](http://fox59.com/2017/06/23/canadian-sniper-shatters-longest-confirmed-kill-record-with-two-mile-shot/)


	6. VI

Two days. It had been _two days_ since they found the linguist's notes, and they were still no closer to figuring out how Felix had been changed. More importantly, they hadn't figured out how to change him _back_.

Locus stared at the ceiling that night, listening to the rain, Felix curled against his ribs and purring softly. So far, Felix was still _Felix_ , more or less, but Locus couldn't find anything to indicate either way if that would change, too. He definitely had less concern for personal space than before. And that thing with the laser the other night ...

At least he wasn't finding dead mice-things everywhere yet. 

Locus was starting to get a headache. There was no way he was going to abandon his partner; not after everything they'd survived so far. But the life of a mercenary wasn't safe at the best of times. And with Felix's knack for finding trouble ... "I don't know what we're going to do," he whispered.

Felix yawned and shifted, finding Locus' hand. _You're going to pet me and then you're going to stop worrying and go the fuck to sleep, asshole._

Locus smiled faintly but obeyed. "Hedonist."

_Damn straight._

  


Locus had never faced a test of his control quite like this. He clamped down on the urge to even twitch, afraid that if he allowed that, he'd break. He breathed shallowly through his nose until he trusted himself to speak.

"I did warn you."

_Shut. Up._

Locus _had_ warned him, though, that the rain had probably left things far more slippery than Felix expected. Felix, of course, had ignored him, supremely confident on his own ability to stick a landing. He had immediately lost his footing and slid, yowling, into an open rain barrel. Now he was clinging to the edge, glaring at Locus and trying to scramble out. 

Locus was absolutely _not_ going to copy the footage from the station security feeds. It would be _extremely_ unprofessional to keep anything he could use as blackmail in a file for the days when he wanted to strangle Felix.

That was his story and he was sticking to it.

_Well? Are you going to help or not?_

Locus bit hard on his lips to keep from laughing, but he did grab Felix and pull him out. Felix scrambled up to his shoulder, water dripping everywhere. _You are an asshole. First class, capital A,_ Asshole. _You know this, right?_

Locus just reached up and scratched behind his ears until he quit grumbling. "You probably could have used the bath, anyway."

_Shut the fuck up. Asshole._

It was a good thing the helmet could hide his face.

  


They did have a small bit of luck that morning. A very small bit. It was a testament to how desperate Locus was feeling that even this felt like progress.

One of the other researchers — the one who liked to mix languages — considered translating to be a hobby, and had their own attempt tucked away in their personal records. They hadn't logged them with the official research partly _because_ they considered it a hobby, and partly because they didn't get along with the team linguist

> _"... idiot can't even_ consider _the possibility that the text might be referring to a_ physical _change, because 'that's impossible’. Like space travel and cities on other planets weren't 'impossible' centuries ago, or air travel or even mechanized travel before that! Just because_ you _haven't heard of it, you thick-headed, stubborn —"_

Locus pinched the bridge of his nose. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. 

_No good?_

"At least this one thinks there _might_ be a physical change involved." Locus laughed bitterly. " _Possibly_."

Felix stretched out one paw, examining his claws. _I think they might be onto something._

Locus leaned back. "How _do_ you manage to find yourself in the most ridiculous scenarios?"

 _Don't blame me!_ Felix's ears pinned back and his eyes narrowed. Locus did _not_ have any pictures of Felix all fluffed out saved anywhere. At all. _All I did was walk across the fucking room!_

Locus rubbed his hands over his face as his smirk died, trying to will away exhaustion. He couldn't recall being this tired even during the War. Now he could feel it settling into his bones and dragging him down.

He shook his head. He had to keep going. _Somewhere_ , there had to be a clue how to fix this.

  


The mirth from that morning never had a chance of lasting. There was nothing more in any of the records that looked to be of any use. All Locus could find was speculation and contradictions on what everything did or meant.

 _So, not only were they eggheads, but they were_ useless _eggheads. Probably overpaid too._

Locus couldn't really argue with that thought. The very last entry mentioned that the entire team was supposed to go in as a group, 'in the hopes that combining resources and expertise would speed the discovery process.' In other words, try to keep people from hiding what they found to prop up their own egos. A recipe for disaster if Locus ever saw one.

There were no entries of any kind after that.

"I think we can guess what happened to the research team."

_Bunch of civilian geeks can't stop bickering and politicking long enough to get the job done wake up something nasty? Sounds like every B-grade sci-fi and horror movie for, oh, ever._

"At least _we've_ survived so far." Locus had yet to return to the room where he'd found Felix. Nothing had happened to him that first day, but he was reluctant to go back again and risk being ... changed ... himself.

Without knowing what had triggered it in the first place — proximity? motion? some switch Felix had hit, either accidentally or out of boredom? — there was no telling what, if anything, would happen it he went back in. Locus didn't want to take that chance.

_I could go back._

Locus started. He hadn't realized he'd been thinking out loud. "No."

 _I could go back in._ Felix sat up straight, tail curled around his feet and nose in the air. _If it doesn't activate, great. No harm, no foul. It changes me into something else? You're still human and we're no worse off. It makes me human again? Great. That's the_ entire fucking point _of this._

"It kills you?" Locus asked quietly.

Felix shrugged. _No one said this was a safe job._

Two hours later, Locus was kneeling beside Felix, outside the room with the glowing pillar, attempting to rig a harness to hold a camera to his back.

"This has got to be the _strangest_ thing I've ever done with you," he muttered.

Felix stretched and shook, making sure everything was secure. _Well, there_ was _that one time with the girls from Wolf Squad and the pineapples ..._

He glared at Felix. "Go make yourself useful."

Locus watched, heart in his throat although he would never admit it, as Felix darted about the room, trying to get clear footage of every square inch. He was convinced this could only end badly. He couldn't help seeing something ominous in the slow pulsing of light in the center of the room. It was only leftover, abandoned tech, from who knew how long ago; that didn't stop the _crawling_ feeling between his shoulder blades, like he was being watched.

Felix made three circuits of the room before he trotted out, looking exceptionally smug. Privately, Locus thought he got it all on the first try, and just used to other two to try and give him a heart attack. _There, I think we're good. Now get this thing off. It itches._

Locus unbuckled the camera. "Quit whining. This was your idea." He debated leaving the rest of the harness on, so he could use it later to keep Felix out of mischief. He decided it wasn't worth the trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you didn't get to watch the Twitch stream or an archive of the Red vs Blue panel at RTX2016, Miles recounted an embarassing story from the autograph signing regarding a shirt with a pineapple print
> 
> So now, 'pineapples' will likely be a Noodle Incident in everything merc-related I write. It probably won't be the same Incident, but there will be one
> 
> (And if anyone knows where the panel has been posted, please share, as the Twitch archive has been deleted)


	7. VII

Felix clawed his way up the back of the chair to poke his head over Locus' shoulder. _Anything useful?_

Locus reached up absently to scratch his ears. Felix scrambled the rest of the way up to lay over his shoulder. "So far, there's nothing new. I've managed to get the search algorithms to recognize the symbols and match them to what's already been done, but that's the best I can do for now. All we can do is wait for the program to run its course and compare the results."

 _You'll figure it out._ Felix yawned and stretched, claws slipping out. _I can't say I won't miss these, though._

"The thought of you keeping the claws terrifies me," Locus said drily.

Felix headbutted him. _Shut up. They'd be useful and you know it._ He jumped down and sauntered to the back of the Pelican. _What do you want to do now?_

"We should see what supplies we can retrieve from the station." Locus stood and grabbed his helmet. "Before I blow this place to dust," he added under his breath.

Felix perked up at that. _Feeling a little frustrated, are we?_

Locus only favored him with a flat look and settled his helmet into place.

  


Overall, the rest of the day didn't go too poorly. There were enough rations still sealed to replenish their own supplies. The water was run through three purification cycles before Locus was willing to trust it. Even then, he kept it separate from the stores they had brought with them. He moved Felix's armor to an internal storage compartment, in case he needed to jettison the newer supplies in a hurry. 

Locus decided that he would _not_ , in fact, destroy the research station. There had been enough data and artifacts collected that he doubted their employer would be happy with their loss. However, if it turned out there was some previously unnoticed structural damage that caused the ruins to collapse, well, that would just be _unfortunate_ , wouldn't it?

The most difficult thing would be explaining what had happened to the team they were sent to find.

Felix didn't seem all that troubled _'Fate uncertain. Probably eaten because they were the stupidest smart people ever.'_ He yawned and dropped his chin on his paws, completely unconcerned.

Locus snorted. "I doubt that will be an acceptable report."

_It's also probably true._

Locus hummed thoughtfully. "It's possible," he said slowly, "that, if the researchers were affected in the same manner as you were, that the creature you discovered was actually the remains of one of them."

Felix blinked. _I fucking hate you. So much. You had to remind me of that._ He rolled over, scrubbing at his face. _Was that_ really _necessary?_ The glare lost some of its effectiveness when delivered by a cat twisting around to look at him upside down.

Locus just smiled behind his helmet. He was absolutely _not_ saving any footage of Felix against future need.

Really.

  


When Locus woke, he realized the head under his hand — in fact the whole body draped across him — was far more person-shaped than when he fell asleep. He picked his head up enough to confirm that, yes, Felix was human again.

His first thought was a relieved, _It wore off._

His second was, _Get off me._

He settled for something in the middle. "Felix."

Felix yawned and slowly opened his eyes. "Hmmmm?"

"You're naked."

Felix raised his head enough to look down at himself. "Your point?"

_"Felix."_

He huffed. _"Fine."_ He snagged the blanket off his mattress, flung it over himself, and dropped back down on Locus' chest. He crossed his arms and rested his chin on his wrists. "So, didja miss me?"

Locus sighed. That was apparently the best he was going to get without throwing Felix off him. Best to humor him for now. He propped his head on one arm and raised an eyebrow.

"One, you were still here, so, no. Two, it was _quieter_ , so, again, no." He paused, smirking. "Three, you didn't act much differently, so _still_ no."

"Oh, bull _shit_." Felix's faced scrunched up in disbelief. "You honestly expect me to believe—"

He broke off as Locus lifted one hand and started lightly scratching his scalp. Felix leaned into it, eyes closed, humming slightly. Almost purring. Locus started counting silently.

_One ... two ... three ... four ..._

The moment Felix realized what he was doing, his eyes flew open. He shot up, hands braced on Locus' chest. _"Fuck. You,"_ he hissed. He threw himself off Locus and stalked to the storage unit with his armor. Muttering under his breath, he grabbed the undersuit and started yanking it on.

Locus bit back a grin. It probably wouldn't help if he mentioned that he could _see_ Felix with an angrily swishing tail and pinned ears. Really, the biggest difference had been the fur that had gotten everywhere.

  


Now that Felix was back to normal — for Felix, anyway — Locus was able to turn his attention to the _actual_ reason they were there. 

Going back to the records he had discarded earlier, he pulled the inventory lists, intending to check them against the physical inventory. Felix, of course, was no help at all.

"Boooooring," he whined, sprawled in a chair in the station common area. "Seriously, you have to do that _now_?"

Locus didn't look up from the data pad. "We were contracted to do a job and we are currently behind schedule. If we want to get _paid_ , then _yes_ , I have to do this now." With Felix back in his armor, Locus was more comfortable leaving his helmet on. If he happened to keep a live feed of Felix's vitals in the lower corner of his HUD, that was just prudent, given the last week. "You could help."

Felix huffed, but did get to his feet, surprising Locus with his lack of complaint. "I _suppose_ I could start on our report." 

Locus turned his head slightly; Felix read the disapproval in that small tilt. "Hey, I said 'start'. I wouldn't send it without letting you look it over and drying it out."

Locus said nothing. Felix heaved a sigh most put-upon. "Or I could secure the artifacts these idiots already collected as we inventory them."

Locus paused, a tiny trickle of ... not _fear_ , exactly ... running down his spine. "Nothing glowing."

Felix snorted. "No problem. I have no desire to go through _that_ again."

  


Felix hummed as he helped Locus. "You _really_ don't like this place, do you?"

Locus stepped back, eyeing their work. The next team to be sent out, and there would be a next team, he was sure of it, would see that they had tried to clear a blocked passage. If it _happened_ that he miscalculated and _accidentally_ collapsed the 'shapeshifting' room, well, it was an honest mistake. Demolition wasn't his specialty. "I can't imagine what would give you that idea."

Felix snickered and set the last charge.

  


"What would you have done?"

Locus paused for a moment, then continued unsnapping his armor. Felix's tone was far more subdued than usual, and it worried him. "What do you mean?"

Felix sat down, stripping off his arm guards. He didn't look up, instead focusing on carefully setting each piece aside. "If I had — if it hadn't worn off. What would you have done?"

Locus stopped, considering. "Gotten you a chip. One civilians would think to look for. And maybe a bell," he added.

Felix snorted. "Right. Like you wouldn't have ditched me as soon as we got back to civilization." He pulled his torso armor and added it to the stack. He still didn't look up. 

Locus flinched. Did Felix really think so little of him? He racked his armor, deciding to let it run another maintenance cycle while they slept. It also let him take a moment to clear his expression. "If I was going to do that," he said, forcing his tone even, "I don't see how waiting until we returned would have mattered."

Without the helmet, Felix couldn't hide his expressions very well, either. Surprise, followed by disbelief, and _maybe_ a hint of vulnerability flickered across his face before he pasted on his usual cocky grin. "So you would have ended up on the classic cartoon villain path, complete with overly spoiled feline companion?"

Locus couldn't help laughing a little. "I don't know about going _that_ far." He sat down on his mat, slowly working the kinks out of his muscles. "But I don't see any reason why I would have abandoned you."

Felix sprawled on his own mat and part of Locus'. "Even if I had stopped being ... me?"

Locus nudged him back onto his own mat. "Even if." He tilted his head thoughtfully. "Provided I didn't have to clean a litter box."

"Oh, fuck you." Felix kicked him, but he was laughing alongside Locus.

When they fell asleep some time later, it was Felix who crept closer until their shoulders brushed. Locus had the sleepy thought not to mention it if Felix didn't.

And when he woke the next morning to find Felix curled into his side, he feigned sleep until his partner rolled away from him.

And if that became the pattern for many nights to come whenever one of them felt off balance, neither of them mentioned it.

  


"I swear to fucking God, Locus, if you don't _cut that out_ , I'm breaking that goddamned thing off your rifle and shoving it up your ass!" Felix snapped. He glared at the little red dot sitting squarely on the back of his hand. That was the third time Locus had gotten him to fall for that.

Locus just smirked as he switched off the laser. "Apparently, that was you all along, and I was concerned for nothing."

Felix gaped at him. "You-! That's-! Fuck off!" he sputtered.

Locus felt surprisingly cheerful as he secured his rifle. He wondered if he could get Felix to chase a ball of foil next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost ended it on the slightly sappy note. Remembered these two are assholes and edited in that last bit.
> 
> So, my very first multi-chapter fic. It was _supposed_ to be a crackfic. Ahem.
> 
> Teeny tiny little epilogue to follow in a day or two, just to make Felix screech


	8. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _'Fortunate is he, ...'_  
>   
> 
>  
> 
>  (The mystery is revealed.)
> 
>  

_Some time later ..._

 

_< Transmission received.>_

 

...

 

...

 

...

 

"It was a costume room for a goddamned _theater?_ Are you fucking _serious?!?_ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Too many 'professionals' insist that anything they discover must have profound religious or cultural significance, only to find that, no, it's [just fancy embroidery thread](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/archeologists-found-almost-2000-gold-spiral-objects-bronze-age-180955943/?no-ist#comment-2143222253) or something else mundane. Why should these assholes have been any different?
> 
> 11/23/16: [redwryvernart drew the most incredible pic of both Felix & Locus as cats, as fluff to soothe their last update!!](http://redwryvernart.tumblr.com/post/153555902130/assholes-since-the-last-update-of-a-warriors)


End file.
